Leek Town

Report by Mark Chestney

North Ferriby United threw away a two goal lead and with it the chance of victory at Leek Town . To make matters worse they had striker Gary Bradshaw sent off four minutes from the time. The Ferriby striker was allegedly guilty of lashing out with his boot on Leek defender Andy Thomas. Manager Neil Parsley once again knew his side had done enough to win the game and had the better chances. However he wasn’t willing to expand on his striker’s dismissal. “Again we did enough to take three points away from home after going two up,” said Parsley. “We had the better chances throughout but gifted them a goal through a goalkeeping error. We played some good stuff getting the ball down and playing it out wide. “I think on another day we will not play as well but will win the game by two or three nil. My thoughts on the sending off are that it will be between me and Gary and it’s all I’m going to say on the matter.” The home side showed first through a 6th minute Steve Brannan free kick which found Louis Briscoe. Thankfully it was charged down by the Ferriby defence. All the early pressure came from the home side but they failed to find the net on a couple of occasions. Ferriby defended well and made sure Pat McFadden and Hill were unable to celebrate a goal. The deadlock was broken on 33 minutes when Joel Hartley’s shot was deflected into the path of Andy Hayward. The striker made no mistake in slotting the ball home inside the far post. It got even better for Ferriby just six minutes later when Bradshaw found the net with a rasping shot from 15 yards out. This came after great work from full back Danny Ryan. The stroke of halftime saw the home side get back into the game by way of a penalty. The referee’s assistant saw a handling offence by Allison in the area and Briscoe smashed the ball into the back of the net. At 2-1 down Leek came out strong in the second half and were gifted an equaliser. A free kick from Brannan was mishandled by Antoni Pecora and led to Hopley finding the net. The Ferriby keeper failed to hold onto the free kick and dropped the ball under his crossbar. Hopley was on hand to stroke the ball home from less than a yard out. Bradshaw turned from almost hero to villain as he twice curled shots just over the crossbar but then saw red as the visitors ended the game with ten men for the final four minutes.

Leek: Cooper, Soboljew, Thomas, Alexander, Johnson, Talbot, Brannan,
McFadden, Briscoe, Hopley, Hill.
Subs: Edwards (Hill 45), Booth (Talbot 60), Jeffries (Soboljew 85)
Goals: Briscoe - pen (44) Hopley (55)

North Ferriby : Pecora, Bloor, Ryan, Allison, Foot, Waltham , Hartley,
Bolder, Hayward , Bradshaw, Price
Subs: Mc Garry (Hayward 89),
Subs not used: Thompson, Botham Goals: Hayward (33) Bradshaw (39) Att: 286

Match Report - 21.08.07 - UniBond Premier League
	Leek Town 2 - 2 North Ferriby United
Report by Mark Chestney North Ferriby United threw away a two goal lead and with it the chance of victory at Leek Town . To make matters worse they had striker Gary Bradshaw sent off four minutes from the time. The Ferriby striker was allegedly guilty of lashing out with his boot on Leek defender Andy Thomas. Manager Neil Parsley once again knew his side had done enough to win the game and had the better chances. However he wasn’t willing to expand on his striker’s dismissal. “Again we did enough to take three points away from home after going two up,” said Parsley. “We had the better chances throughout but gifted them a goal through a goalkeeping error. We played some good stuff getting the ball down and playing it out wide. “I think on another day we will not play as well but will win the game by two or three nil. My thoughts on the sending off are that it will be between me and Gary and it’s all I’m going to say on the matter.” The home side showed first through a 6th minute Steve Brannan free kick which found Louis Briscoe. Thankfully it was charged down by the Ferriby defence. All the early pressure came from the home side but they failed to find the net on a couple of occasions. Ferriby defended well and made sure Pat McFadden and Hill were unable to celebrate a goal. The deadlock was broken on 33 minutes when Joel Hartley’s shot was deflected into the path of Andy Hayward. The striker made no mistake in slotting the ball home inside the far post. It got even better for Ferriby just six minutes later when Bradshaw found the net with a rasping shot from 15 yards out. This came after great work from full back Danny Ryan. The stroke of halftime saw the home side get back into the game by way of a penalty. The referee’s assistant saw a handling offence by Allison in the area and Briscoe smashed the ball into the back of the net. At 2-1 down Leek came out strong in the second half and were gifted an equaliser. A free kick from Brannan was mishandled by Antoni Pecora and led to Hopley finding the net. The Ferriby keeper failed to hold onto the free kick and dropped the ball under his crossbar. Hopley was on hand to stroke the ball home from less than a yard out. Bradshaw turned from almost hero to villain as he twice curled shots just over the crossbar but then saw red as the visitors ended the game with ten men for the final four minutes. Leek: Cooper, Soboljew, Thomas, Alexander, Johnson, Talbot, Brannan, McFadden, Briscoe, Hopley, Hill. Subs: Edwards (Hill 45), Booth (Talbot 60), Jeffries (Soboljew 85) Goals: Briscoe - pen (44) Hopley (55) North Ferriby : Pecora, Bloor, Ryan, Allison, Foot, Waltham , Hartley, Bolder, Hayward , Bradshaw, Price Subs: Mc Garry (Hayward 89), Subs not used: Thompson, Botham Goals: Hayward (33) Bradshaw (39) Att: 286